Media Literacy...A MUST!!!

Media Literacy is defined by wikipedia.com as the process of accessing, analyzing, evaluating and creating messages in a wide variety of media modes, genres and forms. In this day in age, there we are exposed to millions of media messages and hundreds of different media mediums to convey those messages. As a person living in a technological era full of influence from media, it is vital that I am media literate.

Neil Postman was my first advisor of media literacy in his book “Amusing Ourselves to Death.” His whole idea is that the media overall has a negative effect on society in general. Specifically, Postman uses the news as an example of how the news of the day is turned into a commodity and lacks quality and relevance and reaches for entertainment instead. Although I do not completely agree with Postman’s pessimistic view of the media, his points allowed me to examine the news and television medium closely and ask myself: “Is this news/TV informing me sufficiently or simply entertaining me?” I think this an important question for everyone to ask themselves each time they sit in front of the set in order to maintain media literacy.

College students such as myself must seek media literacy as new forms of media are being developed everyday. For example, the new I-Phone is a media mastermind with instant internet access, video, photos, music, and of course it can be used to call people. A blogger named Tom Hume talked about how the iphone attracts a particular audience of people who are already obsessed with surfing the web and are avid Apple fans. However, statistics have shown that 30% of buyers were first time Apple customers and 40% were buying their first ipod in the iphone. My media literacy causes me to ask the question, “Have we become so dependent on the media that we are willing to pay upwards of $500 for a cell-phone?”

Another aspect of the media we need to be aware of is where we lie on the media influence line. As stated by the text, Media Literacy by James Potter, if too close to the manifestation line, a person could easily act out according to what they’ve seen in the media. For instance, someone who plays a violent video game may act out violently due to influence from the media. Its important to remain in the safe zone and not be over-influenced by what type of media you are exposed to.

A way to exercise your media literacy muscles is to use the 4 step media literacy method: Awareness, Analysis, Reflection, and Action.

People need to be AWARE of the media message being conveyed and use their media filters to interpret it properly and be careful not be manifested by the message.

ANALYSIS is the process of searching for political, economic, social, cultural and personal context in which to think about the theme. Ask the question: “How is this media message relevant to political, economic, social, etc. context?”

When REFLECTING we need to sit back and think about what is right or wrong with the message according to your personal values/beliefs?

ACTION is the final step that deals with doing something after going through the first three steps of this process.

Following these four simple steps can help maintain consistent media literacy. In this era of abundant media exposure, it is definitely a MUST to be media literate.

Staying in the SAFE ZONE on the Influence Line

Through the activity I performed from the text “Media Literacy” I learned that for the most part, of the 13 factors listed, I am only affected by a select few of them. After reviewing each of the 7 set point factors and 6 factors special to a type of effect, I found that I am not necessarily at risk to act aggressively from playing a violent video game.
According to an article found at the website http://www.apa.org/releases/videogames.html, violence in video games can promote more aggression than any other form of media because of the interaction involved. My strength in my developmental maturities, cognitive abilities, knowledge structures, sociological factors, lifestyle, and personal locus allow me to avoid any aggression and from getting too close to the manifestation line. For instance, my lifestyle is one that consists of normalcy in that I do not participate or promote violence nor am I ever exposed to it in real life. Therefore, I can easily avoid any major effects from the violent lifestyle I expose myself to when playing a video game.
As far as the other points like media exposure habits, and the special types of content of messages, context portrayals, cognitive complexity of content, motivations, states, and character identification, I struggle to not be directly effected. For instance, I enjoy playing military video games. This can fall under context portrayals as I am exposed to violent activities towards enemy soldiers such as the Al-Qaeda; I am then exposed to the same context in the news concerning the War in Iraq. This often causes me to have thoughts of aggression and violence towards the Al-Qaeda.
Another special type of effect that I related to was that of the degree of identification. As stated in the video, “Game Over,” people like to be able to relate the character that they are portraying. In my case, I loved to play Duke Nukem for that very reason. He was big, strong, violent, and the women loved him. The text in the “Media Literacy” book talks about the “as if” experience where I find myself imagining if I were Duke Nukem.
After conducting this experiment, I was happy to learn that I lie in a safe area on the influence line. I am definitely not too close to the manifestation line but because I am effected by many of the factors special to a type of effect (i.e.: media exposure habits) I can never be un-influenced. I would like my life with media to change for the better by being able to recognize when I am falling victim to any of the risk set points. For instance, if I am using a violent video game to release some anger or stress, I hope to be able to realize that the violence is not a good way to release stress in real-life scenarios. I also hope to continue to maintain the areas that keep me from nearing the manifestation line such as sustaining my developmental maturities, and knowledge structures.

Reading Into Ratings

My favorite network television show is Cold Case. The show airs on CBS every Sunday night from 9-10pm. According to a Nielsen Media’s recent ratings, Cold Case was ranked 18th with 9.8 million viewers, tied with the show How I Met Your Mother.
Cold Case has an audience of approximately 7,096,000 and approximately 9,804,000 viewers. It holds a rating/share of 6.3/10. Cold case is up against some pretty tough competition in its Sunday night time slot including Oprah’s Big Give on the ABC network which ranked 13th during the week of March 24th-30th with 11,362,000 viewers. However, with the recent NCAA Basketball tournament taking place on the same network as Cold Case (CBS) one might assume that the audience watching the basketball games during the late afternoon and evenings may carry over to watch Cold Case at 9pm. Another question that may arise is will the show’s ratings fall once the tournament is over?
Cold Case has been on air for almost 5 years now and received a viewer rating of 3.7 out of 4 stars on zap2it.com. Its popularity is strong however its ratings have fallen most likely due to the strong competition of television taking place on Sunday nights.
Sunday night is a big night for television with popular shows such as Extreme Home Makeover (ABC-8pm), 60 minutes (CBS-7pm), and Law & Order SVU (NBC-10pm). This is another key factor in Cold Cases near last place rating due to the other popular shows occurring on Sunday evening on rival networks drawing viewers. Although in different time slots, many viewers may tune into their favorite show then turn the television off and resume their busy lives without ever considering other shows such as Cold Case on other networks at other times.
The writer’s strike has also had an effect on Cold Case quite possibly for the better with shows like Desperate Housewives not airing new episodes recently on Sunday nights.
If I were to move my favorite show to another timeslot in order to increase its overall ratings I would move it to Thursday nights for two main reasons. One being that only two shows on Nielsen’s top 20 airs on Thursday nights which is Deal or No Deal (NBC-8pm) and The Apprentice (NBC-9pm). The other main reason is that there is no American Idol on that night. Its near impossible to compete with the show that’s always at the top of the ratings dominating Tuesday and Wednesday nights. For the very reason that there are not many shows top-rated shows on Thursdays (except for the two mentioned above) and there is no American Idol, I feel the Cold Cases’ ratings would increase.

Arising from the dead much to Neil Postman's dismay

When I purchased Neil Postman’s "Amusing Ourselves to Death,” one thing that stood out to me was how old the book was. Postman published the book 23 years ago…that’s as old as me! The focus of my review of his book will be about how two different generations could view this book differently.
The first generation’s interpretation I will focus on is that of my own, the younger more tech-savvy generation. For someone in this generation, Postman’s book might evoke the question of “Why does he hate technology?” The truth is, at least from my perspective, Postman does not hate technology, he only criticizes its relevance and purpose. For instance, my generation has grown up watching television as a form of entertainment. From the early years of watching cartoons and now MTV, it has always been about entertainment. In the book, Postman states, “The problem is not what television presents us with entertaining subject matter but that subject matter is presented as entertaining…” Postman wouldn’t be happy to learn that according to Nielsen Media Research, TV remains the top forms of entertainment even amongst the younger generation. This new generation enjoys visually-enticing, ‘flashy’ forms of media which can be found on many shows including the nightly news.
Now I rewind about 25-30 years ago where people were still somewhat adjusting to the entertainment value of TV. Compared to today’s world there was not nearly as much entertainment on the tube. I view Postman as somewhat “old-fashioned” and really dwelling on the television’s early years compared to where it was even in 1985. If he were to write a similar book today, he’d probably have a heart attack in the process. People of yester-year viewed the change in media towards entertainment differently because it was not what they grew up with. People do not like change and that’s exactly what all forms of media have done over their year’s development. However, research from lostremote.com shows that adults are adapting to the new forms of entertaining media such as YouTube which may eventually replace TV all together.
The only similarity I see between how the two generations view the book is the importance of developing media literacy as stressed in W. James Potter’s book, “Media Literacy.” Young or old, it is definitely vital to effectively interpret the millions of sources of media that we are exposed to in our lives.

Counting On Citizen Journalism

As a video journalist, I have to carefully consider many elements of the news before I report to the public. As explained in chapter 7 of the text, I do my best to view my stories from the “news perspective.”

First, I must detect and recognize news, interpret its relevance, investigate and research a topic, then assemble the story. However, the disadvantage to this perspective is that it runs the risk of being interpreted from my point of view and interpretation. It could result in a narrow vision of what is “news-worthy.”

For instance, I recently was assigned to put together a package on the Irish foreign exchange student who plays basketball for Westminster. Since it was a feature story and not a hard-news piece, I had to decide the best angle to take on the story.

After analyzing the “news perspective” of the story, I decided to base my package around getting to know Peter. I was satisfied with the finished piece as were many others. However, perhaps some people wanted more facts in the story. The who, what, when, and whys of the story which make up the context of the story.

That’s the main problem with the “news perspective,” the vision of what is actual news varies from person to person.

Upon analyzing citizen journalism sites, the same conclusion can be reached. I chose to check out http://www.mytown.dailycamera.com/ which is based out of Colorado that provides daily news from breaking local stories to news from area clubs and sports teams. The site also allows the uploading of photos and for area residents to blog. The Daily Camera is also changing the name of its Sunday community news section to MyTown, emphasizing the connection between the Web and print sections.

Following the theme of the “news perspective,” one thing I feel that makes citizen journalism sites better than other sources such as national news is that it’s easier to decipher what really is news. Chapter 7 talks about the difficulty of truly knowing if news coverage is complete, balanced and accurate. I feel that it easier to know this if you actually live in the community where the news comes from. For example, if someone posts an article or blog about someone’s house burning down and questions its authenticity and accuracy, it’s easy to get in your car and drive a few blocks away to obtain the facts yourself. Or, maybe you know the neighbors or someone who live in that particular neighborhood, you can double-check the facts and develop you own interpretation of what actually happened. With national news, it’s difficult to go straight to the source and figure out how accurately a story was reported.

Therefore, community journalism sites such as mytown.dailycamera.com, make it easier for readers to trust the accuracy of news because they know it is coming from community members just like them and readers can easily go directly to the source of the news since it is within their community. Blogging and photo uploading is also a great way for community members to interpret news and share it with others.

Surviving Media's Misconception

Alexis’ quote is a prime example of how powerful the media really can be. As spoken by Uncle Ben in the movie Spiderman, “with great power, comes great responsibility.” In the case of Survivor Fans vs. Favorites, I feel the media has been greatly misconceived. The show Survivor, which has definitely been a great success over the years, is the type of show that can easily chose what to show and what not to show as part of the reality television aspect. Mr. Corso told us about a book he read that talked about how the production crew shot hours of footage but only used the entertaining parts.

For instance, the book claimed that cast member slept for extended periods of time and only participated in competitions and socialized with one another every so often. The average “media literate” viewer would think that what they saw on television was typically what took place each and everyday on the island. However, it is not. What is shown on television is what the producer, editors, and networks consider entertaining. This common misconception can be caused by a glitch in our information processing and the lack of ability to decipher “real reality” from “entertaining reality.”

This thought is exemplified through Alexis’ quote and how she feels that the fans have an advantage because they are avid viewers of the show and know the characters well. Do they really know the characters themselves or the characters that the show has portrayed? On the other end, perhaps the loyal viewers have developed their media competencies and skills well enough to know the character better than they know themselves. After all, the characters are stuck on an island and don’t know exactly how the show is portraying their personality and behavior.

To reinforce my take on this quote: the new Survivor Fans vs. Favorites is a great example of how much power the media has. It can be, at times, misrepresenting but always makes for good entertainment.

Meeting Max Headroom

Who? Yeah thats exactly what I said when Mr. Corso started talking about this character last week. To be honest, I did not know what to expect when we watched the episode on wednesday. Would I be bored? Impressed? Confused? Turns out, I was somewhat intrigued by how relevant that particualr episode was with modern day. I was 1 year old when they aired that episode and here I am at age 22 and still very able to recognize what went on in that episode. I feel like even today, the media goes to ALL extremes to capture our attention, get the inside scoop on a story, and most importantly, win the ratings race. As portrayed in the episode, one tv news station went a bit far (a little farther than any stations do today) in order to make good news and be there for the best coverage. It reminds of the movie "Shattered Glass" and the young journalist who goes too far in writing the best story for his magazine. In order to succeed, he fabricates a story and publishes it which helps sell the comapany's magazine and gets him lots of publicity. However, once the story is found to be false, the journalist loses all his credibility and his job. The news station in the episode of Max Headroom did something very similar to this. Although it was a bit of a stretch on what happens today, I thought it was ironic how the show takes place "20 minutes into the future" and sure enough, the future has sort of turned out as the show protrayed it to. Not only news stations but thousands of companies, websites, tv shows, etc. take every measure possible to manipulte the media and set off our triggers. As I sit and watch the superbowl, I see this example perfectly, through witty commercials. Hundreds of companies trying to trigger our media literacy through comercials that dont even last a minute but cost millions of dollars. So as bizzare and possibly irrelevant as Max Headroom may have beeen back in 1986, perhaps he was trying to show us something about the future and where the media was heading. Even through this one episode, I can see many similarities to the way ratings and the battle for the best new coverage takes place 22 years later.